The Chesterton Town Council has approved the planned unit development
ordinance for the Alliance Business Center, proposed for construction at
Ind. 49 and 950N, south of the Indiana Toll Road in incorporated Liberty
Township.

The council did so over the objections of unincorporated Liberty Township
residents, two of whom appeared at Monday night’s meeting to make the point
that, in a perfect world, the views of out-of-town property owners should be
heeded as well.

Members voted 5-0 to approve the PUD on first reading, 5-0 to suspend the
rules, then 5-0 to approve the PUD on final reading.

The westernmost 56 acres of the parcel--commonly called the old Pope
property--would allow Industrial-1 and Industrial 2 uses as well as
medical-related facilities, test laboratories, and a distribution center
with trailer storage. The Zoning Ordinance defines I-1 as “light
industrial,” or industries “which do not cause conditions that would be
objectionable to neighboring properties”; and I-2 as “heavy industrial,” or
those with “certain intensive industrial operations which may have some
objectionable characteristics.”

The easternmost 24 acres would allow Business-3 and Residential-3 uses,
including possibly 20 living units above retail, should the market drive the
project in that direction. B-3 is defined by the Zoning Ordinance as “lower
density, open space type of use relating principally to automotive sales and
service, businesses requiring outdoor storage facilities, and quasi-business
industrial facilities.” There are few B-3 uses not already permitted in B-2
districts. Unique B-3 uses include auto sales, major auto repair, auto wash,
mobile home sales, boat sales, and hotel or motel.

The PUD was previously endorsed by the Advisory Plan Commission at its
October meeting, following a public hearing at which numerous residents of
unincorporated Liberty Township voiced their objections.

On Monday two did so again. Bette Kamaski--who said that she lives across
the street from the Pope property--expressed her belief that adjacent
landowners who happen to be out-of-towners have been disenfranchised. “I
feel a little bit like Chesterton just came in and said ‘This is what we’re
doing. We don’t care about you people.’ Does our opinion count?”

Kamaski also objected to what she characterized as a lack of specificity
about the development itself. “How far back away from my property is it
going to be?” she asked. “There are so many things you can’t give me answers
for. It’s like approving something without getting all the pieces.”

Herb Read, representing the Woodville Foundation--a newly established
not-for-profit intended to be the “voice for the people who live or work in
Liberty Township”--made the point that the “proposed land use” for the
Alliance Business Center “is drastically different from what has been the
long-standing zoning and land use.”

“Almost all of the area, both annexed and incorporated, has been
agricultural or residential,” Read said. “It is reasonable to assume that
most of the surrounding residents have relied on the current zoning to
protect their investment and living conditions. Put the PUD inclusion of I-1
and I-2 uses so far distant from any existing industrial use cannot by any
standard be regarded as good planning and would have an adverse effect upon
the surrounding residential uses. We might add the problem of the design of
the local roads and heavy industrial traffic.”

“The Woodville Foundation is astute enough to realize that elected office
holders may, and usually do, ignore the concerns of people who are not their
direct constituents,” Read added. “All we can do is ask you to consider
omitting any industrial uses within the PUD which impacts the neighborhood.”

Discussion

Member Jeff Trout, R-2nd--who also sits on the Advisory Plan
Commission--said in response that, at the moment, there in fact is “not a
specific layout yet” of the development. “Rock-solid plans don’t exist right
now,” he said.

Nor can the developers themselves say what industrial uses in particular
they hope to attract to the site, Trout said. But--while conceding that
“industrial sounds scary”--he noted that a world-class manufacturer like
Urschel Laboratories Inc. is also classified as industrial. “That’s the
direction we’d like to go and the Alliance developers would like to go.”

But, Trout said, nothing will happen on the property, no ground will be
broken, until the developers have submitted for primary plat approval their
site plan, as they’re required to do under the Subdivision Ordinance. That
site plan must be approved by the Advisory Plan Commission after a public
hearing on it.

On the issue of drainage, which some Liberty landowners have cited as a
concern, Trout promised that stormwater management “is something we’re very
cautious about,” not the least because the Indiana Department of
Environmental Management “watches us very carefully.”

And Trout promised that the town will “commit to buffering.”

Trout did say that the town has every intention of being as considerate “as
we can” to surrounding landowners. “But I can tell you this,” he said.
“We’re going to do it.” The Alliance Business Center will be good for the
Town of Chesterton, will increase its assessed valuation, could lower folks’
property taxes, and will create jobs.

“Pope came to us,” said Member Emerson DeLaney, R-5th. “We did not seek him.
And it’s a great opportunity for the town. It’s up to us to be a good
neighbor.”